Police activities to enforce traffic laws, including speeding by heavy vehicles, is coordinated by the Traffic Branch of the NSW Police Service. Across the State of NSW there is a network of regional police commanders in charge of highway patrol vehicles that are responsible for monitoring particular (and often very large) stretches of highways and other major roads used by heavy vehicles.
In its submission, the Traffic Branch of the NSW Police Service pointed to a recent increase in the number of infringement notices but argued commercial pressures already discussed in this Report were increasing both the tendency to speed as well as efforts to evade existing enforcement measures.
In 1998 there were some 6,767infringement notices issued to heavy vehicles for speeding offences. In 1999 that figure rose to 8,644, speeding is a symptom of the inability of some sections of the heavy vehicle industry to set realistic schedules. There is evidence provided from police in the field that the incidence of speeding is becoming more frequent. Sections of the industry deliberately schedule timetables to coincide when the least on road enforcement will be encountered. Additionally the ability of speed limiters to either be bypassed or not used at all is becoming more apparent. In one Police Region alone some 200 Radar detectors have been seized from the drivers of heavy vehicles in a 12 month period (written submission,
Police operations that might be effective against most road users confront particular problems in relation to long haul trucks. The use of radar detectors continues to be a problem in connection to the long distance trucking industry even though its use by car drivers largely disappeared when such devices were deemed illegal. Further, unlike cars each truck is equipped with a radio which drivers use in addition to other means (such as meeting at truck stops, rest areas etc) to maintain a highly developed network for exchanging information. As the NRMA observed:
Speeding trucks are caught by normal police speeding operations although anecdotal evidence suggests that the position of any police operation is quickly broadcast through radio so that other drivers are not caught (written submission, NRMA).
In fact, evidence of such practices is not confined to NSW and is more than anecdotal. In its written submission (page 6), Queensland Transport stated that Queensland Transport and Queensland Police Service vehicles:
…are equipped with UHF/VHF radios which are able to pick up vehicle to vehicle communications. Using this equipment, Government officers have established that elements of the transport industry use their in-vehicle communication systems to share information about the location, movement and activities of enforcement officers and often monitor the start and finish times of Transport Inspectors and Police in more remote areas. This gives those who are operating outside the legal requirements the ability to avoid detection. This is particularly critical in rural/remote areas where there are few enforcement officers covering a large work area.
An experienced highway patrol officer from southern NSW (oral submission) pointed to a similar problem in relation to combined (NSW and Victorian) police blitzes on the Hume Highway, and in doing so highlighted how, in his view, scheduling pressures contributed to systematic evasion.
We find that if there is concentrated enforcement within our region, the southern rivers region, or us and an adjoining region, you find you get quite a high level of compliance in that enforcement zone. But what happens is, because of schedules or whatever, we find that outside that, those drivers that have got a tight schedule or are behind … use the other areas where there isn't the enforcement level that is conducted elsewhere. They pick up time and speed in other areas to make up for the restriction in the enforced area.
Some drivers interviewed by the Inquiry made an essentially similar point in relation to Safe- T-Cam. For example, a Victorian based owner/driver (oral submission) stated:
Safe-T-Cam because it is only in NSW, means that speeding trucks are more prevalent now in Victoria and Queensland, states without Safe-T-Cam, because that’s where they can make up the time.
There were also suggestions from drivers that there was a margin of tacitly permitted speeding (ie over the 100 kph limit but below 110 kph) before a truck would be booked in some jurisdictions (Victoria was mentioned) but not NSW. The Inquiry is unable to assess the validity of this observation, although inconsistency in enforcement practices would present a problem.
It should be added here that it was suggested to the Inquiry by a range of sources that at particular time there might only be one highway patrol vehicle operating on the Pacific Highway between Newcastle and close to the Queensland border (a distance well in excess of 500 kilometers). If this is the case, then it would be comparatively easy for truck drivers to notify colleagues of the approximate location of the patrol car. Indeed, even if two, three or
perhaps even four patrol cars were operating on this stretch regular communication would still enable trucks to speed for considerable periods with some impunity.